Petrol pump dealers seek more time for daily price revision

The decision came on Thursday following a review by the state companies and the oil ministry of operations in five cities where a daily price revision pilot is on since May 1.ET Bureau | June 12, 2017, 07:51 IST

shares some useful tips to improve your car's fuel economy and save precious money through sensible driving techniques.NEW DELHI: An association of petrol pump dealers has asked state oil companies to defer their plan to daily revise prices of petrol and diesel from June 16 as the filling stations are not prepared for it.

The decision came on Thursday following a review by the state companies and the oil ministry of operations in five cities where a daily price revision pilot is on since May 1.

“We want companies to defer this. We are not prepared for this. Daily pricing will burden us with unnecessary cost, and operational chaos,” said Ajay Bansal, chief of All India Petroleum Dealers Association (AIPDA).

Bansal said his association is set to meet company representatives on June 13 to present their case and want companies to immediately defer implementation of the daily pricing proposal.

Every day, dealers will have to stay at pumps until midnight, or deploy a senior employee, for changing prices, which means additional manpower cost and inconvenience as most petrol pumps shut before midnight, Bansal said.

The process to change prices will result in pumps stopping to dispense fuel for 30 minutes to one hour daily, leading to chaos and loss of business, he said. Companies should automate all pumps so that they can centrally change prices at pumps without the intervention of dealer. This would make price transmission very smooth,” said Bansal.

“Dealers have been carrying out price changes regularly. Similarly, even now, the same system would continue, but on daily basis”, Indian Oil Corp, the nation’s largest fuel retailer with more than 26,000 filling stations, said in a statement on Sunday.

To allay fears of dealers, Indian Oil said it would provide extensive training to dealers for a smooth transition. The company will be able to centrally change prices at about 10,000 automated petrol pumps, Indian Oil said, adding at the remaining about 16,000 pumps, the dealers will receive the revised prices at a fixed hour of the day through various means including sms, email, mobile app and website.

Some dealers are particularly unhappy that they will no more be able to gain from smartly managing their inventory by predicting price trends, which they did during fortnightly revision.

If they expected prices to rise, dealers would raise stock just before revision, and reduce purchase if prices were trending lower. Company executives said daily pricing would help end these sharp demand fluctuations straining the oil supply system.